Nevada prostitution target of federal lawsuit | Las Vegas Review-Journal

Two women who claim they were forced into sex trafficking have filed a lawsuit against Nevada officials and others over the state’s lax prostitution laws.

The suit alleges that more than one-third of roughly $14 million in revenue generated from illegal prostitution in the United States was collected in Las Vegas, citing a 2021 report. Legal brothels generate an estimated $75 million a year in Nevada, which in turn collects 9 percent in tax revenue.

“Nevada’s legal prostitution system has inherently contributed to the sex trafficking of these plaintiffs for both the benefit of sex buyers who flock to Nevada and for the profit of Nevada and its tourism industry,” Christen Price, senior legal counsel at the National Center on Sexual Exploitation, said in a news release about the lawsuit. “The plaintiffs were subjected to violence, threats, and other forms of control by sex trade profiteers, which is precisely what the Thirteenth Amendment forbids. Ultimately, these Nevada defendants must be held accountable for enabling this abuse.”

Source: Nevada prostitution target of federal lawsuit | Las Vegas Review-Journal

Prince Andrew served with lawsuit alleging he abused teenager, her attorneys say

Attorneys for a woman who has accused Prince Andrew of sexually abusing her when she was a teenager said he has been served with a federal lawsuit.

In a letter dated Sept. 6, a U.K.-based attorney for Andrew disputed whether the claim was viable, saying the lawsuit didn’t appear to have been served following proper procedures under the Hague Convention.

Source: Prince Andrew served with lawsuit alleging he abused teenager, her attorneys say

Authorities Seize Another Childlike Sex Doll As Disturbing Trend Rises

A 23-year-old man has been arrested over the importation of a childlike sex doll into Australia – a trend that authorities say has seen an uptick in recent years.

The ABF said in a statement that it seized a total of 226 childlike sex dolls and/or parts in the 2020-2021 financial year – up from 138 seized during the 2019-2020 financial year.

It is not clear whether the increase in seizures of childlike sex dolls is in any way related to the COVID-19 pandemic, which has over the past 18 months fuelled a rise in e-commerce, a huge spike in adult sex doll sales and a disturbing surge in child sex abuse material around the world. A spokesperson for the Australian Federal Police told VICE World News last September that the amount of child abuse material being shared on the dark web appeared to be increasing, and that some sites hosting online child sex abuse material had crashed due to the overwhelming amount of internet traffic.

The Sydney Morning Herald reported that in the 2018-2019 financial year, before COVID, the ABF seized just 30 childlike sex dolls.

Last year, Chinese e-commerce marketplace Alibaba shut down an offshore vendor selling childlike sex dolls into Australia, following complaints from Australian anti-sexploitation group Collective Shout. Media spokeswoman Melinda Liszewski said she and her team had discovered some dolls on the site “as small as 65cm, the size of a six-month-old baby.”

Source: Authorities Seize Another Childlike Sex Doll As Disturbing Trend Rises

Can the plan | Josephine Bartosch | The Critic Magazine

The Welsh First Minister probably thought he was onto a winner when he lent his support to the LGBTQ+ Action Plan, a magical document which promises to “create a society where LGBTQ+ people are safe to live and love authentically, openly and freely as themselves”.

After a grassroots revolt in England, proposals to allow gender self-identification were dropped, and attention is finally being paid to the long-term impact of treatments offered to children with gender dysphoria. In Wales, however, the Labour-led administration has adopted policies discarded by the UK government, promising to “seek to devolve powers in relation to Gender Recognition and support our Trans community”.

Around 150 protesters stood on the slate steps of the Senedd yesterday morning to protest the plan and organise in defence of sex-based rights. They were met with a small counter protest; a gaggle of around 50 trans activists.

Every movement needs its myths, and being on the side of multinational corporations and pornographers — not to mention government policy — is a tricky position for any self-respecting “civil rights” movement to find itself in. As such, transgender activists vehemently believe, or purport to believe, they are at risk from so-called TERFs.

Looking across at the counter-protesters, Susan, a middle-aged lesbian from LGB Alliance Cymru, laughed and told me: “Apparently a load of them live in a squat, what do they think we’re going to do? Turn up and hoover?”

Source: Can the plan | Josephine Bartosch | The Critic Magazine

Medical decision-making, uncertainty and vaccination decisions in family courts in the age of COVID-19 – Lawyers Weekly

In the time of COVID-19, there is considerable public debate about vaccinations. The Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (ATAGI) has recommended 12- to 15-year-olds be added to Australia’s COVID-19 vaccination program, write Michelle Meares and Professor Cameron Stewart.

Family courts are frequently asked to decide whether a child should be vaccinated when parents cannot agree on the decision.

Family court judges will likely be asked to determine parent disputes over the COVID vaccinations for children and young people in the near future.

The Family Courts have jurisdiction to determine these matters. Section 67ZC of the Family Law Act 1975 is the basis of the jurisdiction. The best interest test is applied. This is the statutory parens patriae jurisdiction of the Family Court.

The primary case on the Australian law of consent to medical treatment and the Court’s jurisdiction to make these decisions is Secretary, Department of Health and Community Services v JWB and SMB (1992) 175 CLR 218 (Marion’s case).

The Family Court has regularly exercised parens patriae powers to make vaccination decisions for children when the parents cannot agree. Expert evidence is critical in those matters. Combative approaches by parents are viewed poorly.

Source: Medical decision-making, uncertainty and vaccination decisions in family courts in the age of COVID-19 – Lawyers Weekly

Bullying on Twitter has become unhinged. It’s time to call out the personal, sexist attacks – ABC News

Putting up with bullying has always been a feature of political journalism, but something has changed recently which is making political bullying far more insidious and increasingly challenging to bear, writes Leigh Sales.

Let’s not duck the common thread here — it is overwhelmingly left-leaning Twitter users who are targeting ABC journalists for abuse.

This is an unusual experience for ABC journalists because we are usually targeted in the real world by the right.

In the Australian corner of Twitter, the space is dominated by views that are militantly pro-lockdown, pro-COVID zero and pro-Labor premiers, and even the tamest of questions in those directions prompts an onslaught.

It is a matter for a commercial entity like Twitter to ask itself — and my understanding is that it is — whether the treatment of journalists, in particular female journalists, on its platform is acceptable.

Source: Bullying on Twitter has become unhinged. It’s time to call out the personal, sexist attacks – ABC News

Is Kathleen Folbigg innocent? New evidence suggests she is – Lawyers Weekly

Kathleen Folbigg has been branded Australia’s worst female serial killer but new research into the deaths of her four children, backed by the world’s leading experts, may instead make her Australia’s worst miscarriage of justice.

Backed by genomic testing, a group of eminent scientists have cast doubt on Ms Folbigg’s guilt and her 2003 conviction for the manslaughter of her son Caleb and the murders of her three other children, Patrick, Sarah and Laura. With a new petition, Ms Rego and others on Ms Folbigg’s legal team hope to see her free.

“This case should be of concern to everyone because it establishes that hard scientific facts can be pushed aside in preference of subjective interpretations of circumstantial evidence. That is scary and, frankly, one that every lawyer, every person, should be concerned about. It’s not just about Ms Folbigg,” Ms Rego said.

Source: Is Kathleen Folbigg innocent? New evidence suggests she is – Lawyers Weekly

Parents argue caution on trans drugs cannot be judged ‘abuse’

The state cannot remove a child and brand parents as abusive for resisting medicalised gender change, a court will be told.

Justice Peter Quinlan is to rule on Australia’s first known case of a minor taken into care after parents expressed doubts about the safety of cross-hormone treatment for their daughter who identifies as transgender male.

Source: https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/landmark-case-over-parents-resisting-trans-therapy-for-daughter/news-story/2107e6fc277b8e89ab492d9624bef2af